How do I get these guys to attack me!?

[Aemilius Paulus]

! They were the ones who instigated the battle, so I thought the AI had the mindset of "kill kill kill!"

I you haven't noticed it already, AI units who have the skirmish mode special ability do not normally attack you in melee. It is very annoying, as I have fought countless battles with rebels who had some missile units and those were a pain in the rear to catch. They will always run from you, unless one of your units happens to stray away from the main force and AI feels like it is stronger than that unit, which is when it will gang up on you.

The AI can be pretty smart with missile units as I have noticed. I have repeatedly noticed that AI archers will refuse to target a really high armour units that I specifically moved into the AI missile range in order to drain the AI ammunition. But the moment I send in a normal or low armour unit, the AI unleashes all hell. At other times I have observed the AI simply stand by as my unit entered their range, and then as soon as that unit of mine turned its backs to the AI, they began discharging their missiles.

EDIT: Does anyone play EB campaign with the timed battles turned on? That would be rather stupid/shortsighted IMHO. EB battles often take so long that one would lose several times in the middle of the battle. Especially on huge unit scale. Also how would one deal with chasing missile units in 40 minutes?